2007-10 - Issue 00058

VEDIC MATHEMATICS NEWSLETTER

ISSUE No. 58

A warm welcome to our new subscribers.Vedic Mathematics is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people are introduced to the beautifully unified and easy Vedic methods. The purpose of this Newsletter is to provide information about developments in education and research and books, articles, courses, talks etc., and also to bring together those working with Vedic Mathematics. If you are working with Vedic Mathematics - teaching it or doing research - please contact us and let us include you and some description of your work in the Newsletter. Perhaps you would like to submit an article for inclusion in a later issue or tell us about a course or talk you will be giving or have given.If you are learning Vedic Maths, let us know how you are getting on and what you think of this system.

This issue's article is from a local publication in Henderson, Nevada, U.S.A. called "View", 14th August. There have been several of these articles in recent months as more Math Monkey centers open: see http://www.mathmonkeyblog.com/. Over 50 centers have opened or are in the pipeline in 11 states in the U.S. The Math Monkey courses are based on Vedic Math.

CENTER AIMS TO MAKE NUMBERS FUN MATH MONKEY USES GAMES TO HELP KIDS MASTER CALCULATIONS

By Lauren RomanoView Staff Writer

After a long day of school, kids want to play games and have a little fun.Maia and Carl Emery don't think the learning has to stop when entertainment starts. They opened Math Monkey, a knowledge center that teaches Vedic math through a game-based learning program.Vedic comes from Indian math principles that allow users to perform calculations mentally. The Math Monkey curriculum blends western culture into Indian math.Emery said the classes are so much fun that kids "are happy to be here. They're happy to be doing math."Kathy Butler, a Math Monkey instructor and teacher with the Clark County School District for more than 10 years, said the center gets the kids excited to do math."(The program) gives them a little more enthusiasm for participation," she said. "And it gives them a lot of added practice."Each class begins with a warm up to get the kids excited and is followed by a game that builds on what was learned the week before.Emery, who taught math and science at Silverado High School, said repetition is very important to really understand math.Children from 5 to 14 years old can participate in a one-hour class once a week. Students are separated by academic ability and work their way through the program's five levels. A complete session lasts 12 weeks, but students can sign up at any time during a session.Lou Milano, who has been a substitute teacher for four years with CCSD, said the Math Monkey curriculum strengthens the mental math ability and simplifies it."This is mental math. We don't want kids relying on calculators or computers," Emery said.Vedic math will not interfere with a student's school work, Emery said, adding "This is just another way to do it."Math Monkey was designed for students who excel, but it has been found to work for kids who struggle, as well.The knowledge center, which opened last month at 10740 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 115, has three teachers. Thirty-one students already have enrolled.Emery said she thinks American children need to spend more time learning math because of the global and competitive market."People are coming from other countries and they are working in the top professions," Emery said. "Our children are not prepared. They need something."Emery said she plans to introduce Vedic math to schools through fun math nights that would involve parents.Two new Math Monkey locations also will open in Summerlin and Aliante.Math Monkey is open from noon until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday.For more information, visit www.mathmonkey.com/henderson

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NEWS

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DR L. M. SINGHVI: 1931 - 2007

"Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, today condoled the death of Dr L M Singhvi, stating that he was a prominent constitutional expert and a scholar. In his passing away, the nation ''has lost a prominent constitutional expert, eminent jurist and renowned scholar and able Parliamentarian,' Ms Patil said." Dr Singhvi, amongst his many other accomplishments and positions was President of the World Academy of Vedic Mathematics: his Foreword appears in every Vedic Mathematics book published under the India's Scientific Heritage series.

DIARY NOTES OF BHARATI KRSNA TIRTHAJI

One of the diaries (dated 1951) of Sri Bharati Krsna Tirthaji, in which he makes notes about Vedic Mathematics (mainly in the form of examples) has been scanned by Gaurav Tekriwal who runs the Vedic Maths Forum India, and made available on the internet: http://vedicmathsindia.blogspot.com/. This will make a fascinating area of study as there are clearly topics included that Bharati Krsna only mentions in his book, but gives no details.

DIARY NOTES OF BHARATI KRSNA TIRTHAJI

If anyone knows of any other diaries in which Bharati Krsna Tirthaji has written notes please let us know. If they are in India , and the person photocopies and sends it across, Gaurav Tekriwal will be happy to reimburse him his expenses or if required will send someone to his city and get it picked up.

RESEARCH ARTICLE ON SQUARE ROOTS

This article by Ganesh S. Hegde, (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, R. V. College of Engineering, Bangalore- 560059. Email ID: ) shows how one Sutra, Ekadhikena Purvena, can be used to find the square root or square of any positive number. It defines an operator which is then used in reverse. You can see the article on our website at http://www.vedicmaths.org/Free%20Resources/Articles/sroot2.pdf

VEDIC MATHS GROUP

There is a YouTube Vedic Maths Group at http://www.youtube.com/group/vedicmath. It's moderated by Rebecca Newburn, a maths teacher in California.It is a repository of Vedic Maths videos. You don't need to be a member to watch the videos. However, if you subscribe, you will receive emails when new videos are added. If you find a Vedic Maths video on YouTube that is not in the collection, please submit it or make your own video and add it.

FINGER CALCULATOR by Hemalatha Sridhar

Simple and easy method that children and adults too can learn and lo! U don't need pen and paper for this, only your fingers!!!1) Let us multiply 39 x 36 =The numbering of the fingers are:left hand thumb (40) (40) right hand thumbleft index finger (39) (39) right indexleft middle (38) (38) right middleleft ring (37) (37) right ringleft little finger (36) (36) right littleFirst part of the answer will always be 12Second part of the answer four times the sum of the number of fingers involved, which means u include the fingers u use and the ones below.(i.e. 4* ( 4 + 1) = 20 ..... four fingers on the left hand - that of 39 , 38 , 37 , 36 and one finger on the right hand that of 36)Third part of the answer is the product of the above fingers = 1*4 = 4 (i.e. one finger on the left hand that of 40 and four fingers on the right hand that of 37 , 38 , 39 and 40). So the answer would be like this12 / 20 / 4 i.e. 2 of 20 would get carried across and 12 would become 14 = 1404Hence 39 * 36 = 1404

First part of the answer will always be 16Second part of the answer four times the sum of the number of fingers involved(i.e. 4* ( 3 + 3) = 24 ..... three fingers on the left hand - that of 41 , 42 , 43 and on the right hand also three fingers that of 41 , 42 , 43)Third part of the answer is the product of the involved fingers = 3*3 = 9 (i.e. same fingers as above 41 , 42 and 43).So the answer would be like this16 / 24 / 9 i.e. 2 of 24 gets carried across and 16 becomes 18 = 1849Hence 43 * 43 = 1849

All that one only needs to know here is 1) what should be the constant in the first part of the answer 2) the number of times one should multiply the sum of the numbers in the second part of the answer, while the last part always is the product of either the involved fingers or the above fingers.To explain it in a more structured manner so that one would understand the above two points regarding the constant and the multiplicand to be used :1) Regarding the constant portion i.e. the first part of the answer -For multiplication of numbers ranging between11 and 15 it will always be 1 ( 1of 11*1 = 1)16 and 20 it will always be 2 (1 of 16 * its successor i.e. 2 = 2)21 to 25 it will always be 4 ( 2 of 21 * 2 = 4)26 to 35 it will be 6 (2 of 26 * its successor 3 =6)31 to 35 it will always be 9 ( 3 of 31 * 3 = 9)36 to 40 it will always be 12 ( 3 of 36 * its successor 4 = 12)and so on.........2) Now, for the second or middle part of the answer -For numbers ranging between16 to 20 and 21 to 25 u multiply the sum of the involved fingers by 2 (remember 2 of 20)26 to 30 and 31 to 35 multiply the involved fingers by 3 (remember 3 of 30)36 to 40 and 41 to 45 multiply the involved fingers by 4 ( remember 4 of 40)and so on........Let us now apply these rules and check out -